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Saturday, June 11, 2016

Saturday Author Spotlight: Jake Wells #Interview #Giveaway

The Saturday Author Spotlight today is not only talented, he's generous. When his last book came out Sometimes Love Lasts, he donated ALL proceeds to LGBT Homeless Shelters. All proceeds. He also did this with his first book, A White Coat is My Closet. So, the fact that his books are also great reads and he donates all the dollars; makes him sort of a hero.
It's an honor to have him on here today to answer my questions, showing off his work, and being generous once more to his readers by offering a $15.00 Amazon gift card to one person. I don't want to keep him all to myself so here you go...

Zack Sheldon doesn’t
have time to be lonely. He’s in his last year as a pediatric resident,
almost married to the job, and busy with the joys and sorrows that come
with providing medical care to children. Professionally, he’s confident,
accomplished, and respected. But personally he’s too insecure to
approach a sexy man like Sergio Quartulli, or even to imagine that
Sergio might be attracted to him.

Zack spots Sergio from across
the gym, and then a chance meeting poolside somehow turns into a date.
Before Zack knows it, they’ve become a couple, but Zack’s white coat is
his closet at the hospital, and committing to a relationship with Sergio
makes it difficult for Zack to continue hiding behind it. On the other
hand, he grew up in a small town where being gay was shameful, and he
works in an environment that can sometimes be homophobic, so it’s hard
for him to open up about who he really is. Before Zack can make a choice
on his own terms, circumstances force him to make a decision. He can
continue to hide, or he can step out from behind his white coat and risk
everything for love.

For Rone Forrester,
life as a high school student is a roller coaster ride. Though he’s
intelligent, good-looking, and athletic, true happiness eludes him. He’s
lost his mother to cancer, his hypercritical father is a tyrant, and he
spends most of his free time taking care of his little brother, Eli.
And to make matters worse, Rone begins to have romantic feelings for his
best friend, Carson Harrington.

When Rone is inadvertently
outed, his life swirls into turmoil. His father’s homophobia and Rone’s
embarrassment at the thought of facing Carson force him to flee to Los
Angeles, where he hopes to find a safe haven. Instead, he quickly learns
that every moment is dangerous for a homeless teenager. As time passes,
Rone navigates through multiple challenges, makes friends who love him
for who he is, works hard to achieve his goal of becoming a pediatric
surgeon—with all its inherent triumphs and tragedies—and overcomes a
failed relationship. Ultimately, his journey teaches him that in order
to fulfill his dreams, he has to come to terms with his past.

INTERVIEW

Thank you, Jake, for agreeing to be my spotlight today! I
really very excited about asking you a few questions. I have recently just
discovered you and aside from finding you very talented, I found you
intriguing. So, I thought I’d draw some attention to your books and get to know
you a little better.

Let’s start out with something a little fun. Can you tell us
3 interesting or quirky things about yourself that we might not read in your
bio?

Wow, if I presented this question to
any one of a number of friends of mine to answer on my behalf, they would
probably generate a list of answers three pages long and I’d be too embarrassed
to ever again show my face on any form of social media.I think I’ll keep my answers a little more
tame.

People might be surprised to know
that I used to be a ski instructor and, though I now tend to avoid moguls, I
can still get down the hill pretty well.Fun fact two, and I was a Portuguese major as an undergraduate and
three, I have a huge aversion to the smell of dog shit.To most, this might seem like an oddity not
worth mentioning but the fact is that I have two enormous dogs.I love walking them but the “poop scooping”
aspect of the adventure invariably results in some involuntary dry heaving.

Your latest book Sometimes Love Lasts not only is amazing but
it’s heartwarming in a way that it gives you hope. You are donating all proceeds
from that book to L.A. Homeless youth centers. That’s incredible. I guess the
question so many people are asking is why? I mean there’s the obvious that it’s
a wonderful, kind, and much needed thing to do. But why did YOU choose to do
this?

The answer to that question is a
little involved.To begin with, I never
dreamed that I would ever have anything published.One of the things that had always been on my
bucket list was to attempt to write a book.When I hit fifty and was forced to acknowledge that my life was
approaching the downhill slide, I thought why not start.And so, with a burst of enthusiasm, I began
the project despite having no clue what I was doing.The progress was initially sure and steady but
then, at about the forth chapter, I suddenly found myself thinking; “Shit, four chapters down probably twenty-two
more to go!” I wasn’t sure I had
twenty-two pages left in me much less whole chapters.Everything came to a screeching halt.

Then, miraculously, two years later,
after multiple fits and starts, many agonizing hours of staring at an empty
computer screen and with lots of encouragement from my friends, I ultimately
scribed “the end” to the final page of “A White Coat is My Closet”.When it was finally completed I then found
myself thinking, “Now what?”Kind of
deciding that nothing ventured was nothing gained, I read the submission
formatting requirements for Dreamspinner Press.Then, one afternoon when I was feeling particularly impetuous, I hit the
send button.

Never in a million years did I
imagine that I would receive a congratulatory letter for the editor –in-chief
informing me that Dreamspinner intended to publish my novel.I guess because I never expected it to amount
to anything more than a stack of wrinkled papers in in the back of my closet,
to me, getting it published represented a twist of good fortune and I always believed
that good fortune is best when played forward. And so, I decided to share my good fortune by
donating all the royalties from my first book to the Homeless Youth Project at
the Los Angeles LGBT Center and have since never looked back.I’m doing same thing with “Sometimes Love
Lasts.”I am very lucky to be a
physician and feel privileged to be able to use my books to improve the lives
of youth who might otherwise be completely overlooked by society. Sometimes success in life starts with being
given a chance.

June 26th marks the one year anniversary of
Marriage Equality (throws confetti) that day was historic and emotional for so
many. It’s one year later now… We have all sorts of “new” problems. And this
fight, though ruled, is still going on. What are your thoughts on all of this,
that day, and a year later?

Phenomenal isn’t it?I never thought I’d see Marriage Equality
occur in my life time.I was, and
continue to be, ecstatic.I have to
concede however that, as with every other monumental event in history, there
has been a dark undercurrent to our progress.The religious right views the greater societal acceptance of all people
being able to enter into committed relationships, regardless of their sexual
orientation, as being a threat to their faith.They don’t appreciate that love is love.For them, love has to fit into a very specific construct; heterosexual
Christian.And many of them stand ready
to vehemently fight against anything that defies their narrow definition of
both love and marriage.That’s one of
the reasons the Los Angeles LGBT Center’s Youth Project is seeing greater
number of homeless adolescents than ever before.Regrettably, there are a shockingly high
number of people who believe being gay is an abomination against God and thus
feel justified in kicking their children out of their homes if they suspect
them of embracing the gay “lifestyle”.

So, in one respect, I’m happy beyond
description that our country is generally becoming more accepting of the great
diversity that exists in the human race.In another respect, I’m deeply saddened that bigotry not only continues
to be pervasive but that it results in children’s suffering.

Your bio says you’ve travelled all over the world. What are
some of your favorite places you’ve visited?

Adventure is one of my great
passions.I’ve canoed through parts of
the Amazon jungle in Brazil, have helicopter skied in the Chilean Andes, have
bicycled through many parts of Europe and have explored the remote corners of
the Serengeti in Africa.It’s hard to
say which trip was my favorite.I loved
the beaches of the Greek Islands but was also captivated by views from the top
of the Swiss Alps.I guess because one
of the things I most enjoy about traveling is eating local cuisine, I’m always
ready to return to Northern Italy.Delicious pasta pushes any destination towards to the top of my
list.

What are some of your most favorite childhood books?

Funny you should ask. I’ll let your
readers in on a little secret known only to my close friends and (by default)
my editor. I’m horribly dyslexic! (You should see some of the errors my first
manuscript had)

My third grade teacher didn’t know
what was wrong with me but was convinced I’d never learn to read.She even tried to convince my parents that
rather than being in a main stream classroom, I would be better suited for
special education.Fortunately, a
retired school teacher lived up the street from us.She was probably in her mid-seventies.She didn’t understand why I couldn’t read
either but was convinced I had great potential.I went to her house every day after school and she read with me.The progress was initially slow and laborious
but she was patient and encouraging.One
day, perhaps in an act of desperation, she cut a little square in a 3 x 5 card
and began sliding it slowly over the page instructing me to just look at one
word at a time.For whatever reason, it
worked!!

Apparently, my brain was incapable of
interpreting a cluster of multiple words but when presented with a single word,
I could read it.

I still remember that day as being the day
that the mystery of reading was unlocked for me.I continued going to her house every day
after school and, over the subsequent weeks, read the entire Winnie the Pooh
series.Winnie the Pooh will always hold
a special place in my heart!

I HAVE to ask this question, Doctor! You’re all real life
saving lives. What are your thoughts on medical shows like Grey’s Anatomy and
(I’m showing my age) ER?

Showing your age???I grew up on St. Elsewhere!I never watched many episodes of Grey’s Anatomy
but, particularly in the early years, loved ER.Though sensationalized, the medicine was pretty accurate and I think
some of the social issues they confronted were ground breaking at the
time.(And, as kind of a funny irony,
I’ve been the pediatrician to some of the original cast members’ children)

Where do you hope to see yourself in 10 years’ time?

Retired!!!Just joking…..kind of!I love medicine and still get tremendous
satisfaction from taking care of patients but the administrative side of medicine
is getting increasingly torturous.Insurance restrictions, ICD-10 claims coding, authorization requests,
restricted formularies, electronic medical records, efficiency quotas.....Not
only is it time consuming and over whelming but, in my opinion, has little to
do with quality patient care.

I hope to be a practicing physician
for many years to come but look forward to being able to do it without having
to depend on it to pay the bills.I
would like to do more volunteer work.I
travel to Africa with a group of medical professionals every other year to work
in orphanages and remote villages.I’d love
to do more of that. Also, I’d like to
have more free time to volunteer in the Los Angles LGBT Center’s medical clinic
and treat some of the kids who show up desperate to have their medical needs taken
care of.

And, I’d like to have more time to
write.There are still a lot of stories
I want to tell!

Can you tell us what you’re currently working on?

I’m in the process of outlining
ideas for two books but they’re currently in such rough form that I hesitate to
offer any hints.Stay tuned!!

How can we all follow you through social media? Facebook,
twitter, website?

I love to correspond with my
readers.You can contact me with through
Facebook or via my e-mail.(I have yet
to complete my class in remedial social media….. I don’t tweet!)

13 comments:

I enjoyed the interview Jake you have had such an exciting life and have visited so many different places. It wonderful that you give all proceeds from the book to the L.A. Homeless youth centres. I was also amazed to think that you are horribly dyslexic but have become a doctor I'm sure many young people would be so encouraged by this fact. The charity that I give to is "Help The Hero's" to help the many injured soldiers have returned home from duty in Afghanistan.

I've always contributed to different charities, but since my son got diagnosed with cancer I've made Beads of Courage, American Childhood Cancer Organization and Ronald McDonald's House of Charities some of the most important.

The charity I give consistently to is Botton Village, in North Yorks in the UK - where people with physical and mental difficulties live in a community that supports them and gives them work. Plus I'm a sucker for anyone who's been in the military and is struggling. Hubs gives to the Royal Lifeboat charity - a voluntary organisation that puts boats out to sea to rescue sailors in difficulty. So many worthy causes though, how can you choose?

Fantastic interview! I love to find new authors as well. I'm definitely adding your books to my wishlist. I give to the American Cancer Society because it's touched so many lives in our family and friends. I also give to Lost N Found Youth.